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As you may know, the trading day of exchange places is divided into several specific phases. This article aims to present those main periods and their use. I will specifically address Eurex (derivatives market) and London Stock Exchange (cash market), as they show the periods for two different kinds of equity markets.

Eurex is one of the three largest derivative exchanges with NYSE Euronext Liffe and Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Eurex is owned by Deutsche Börse and based in Frankfurt. London Stock Exchange (LSE) is the largest stock exchange in Europe (in terms of market capitalization) and the fourth largest in the world. As specified in its name, LSE is located in London.

Even if the trading periods are always slightly different in different markets, general ideas remain nearly identical. A trading day usually runs from early morning (7:30 am for Eurex and 8 am for LSE) to late afternoon (4:30 pm for LSE) or even later (10:30 pm for certain products managed by Eurex!). A trading day is typically made of 3 main phases which will be described in the next sections:

Pre-trading

Trading

Post-trading

These phases can also contain sub-phases depending on the specific market rules of each exchange.